Maynard Library to host book festival

Thursday

Apr 6, 2017 at 12:37 PMApr 6, 2017 at 2:28 PM

The Friends of the Maynard Library will host the sixth annual Maynard Book Festival from April 6 to 8 at Maynard Library, 77 Nason St.These free vents will emphasize the power of storytelling and are for people of all ages. The first festival event will be a reception to welcome a new art exhibit to the library. Artists from ArtSpace will be on hand to share their pieces and discuss the stories behind them. The event runs from 5 to 7 p.m. April 6. Light refreshments will be served. The exhibit will be on display through the end of April in the library’s Roosevelt Room.To celebrate stories in song form, the library will welcome the bluegrass band Southern Rail back to the Maynard Library. The concert will take place 7 p.m. April 7. Southern Rail’s performances are high-energy, with harmonies, banjo, mandolin and guitar solo work. Over the years, Southern Rail’s recordings have made the bluegrass charts, and their album “Glory Train” was nominated for Best Gospel Recording of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association.On April 8, the festival will begin at 10 a.m. with a memoir writing workshop for adults. This workshop will explore the various forms that life writing can take and will introduce resources. The class will be led by Lynette Benton, a published writer, blogger and instructor of writers of all ages. Students are welcome to share an excerpt of in-progress work. Space is limited for this workshop, so online registration is encouraged at http://maynardpubliclibrary.org, by visiting the library reference desk or calling 978-897-1010, ext. 103.As part of a larger oral history project with the Maynard Council on Aging, the Book Festival will feature StoryCorps recording session, with time slots running from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Organizers want to collect recordings about growing up, working and living in Maynard. Recordings can take the form of interviews or conversations with a friend or family member. Those interested can register online, over the phone or at the library. Additional recording sessions will be held at the COA in April.Since its founding in 2003, StoryCorps has collected and archived more than 60,000 interviews from more than 100,000 participants from across the country. Interviews are added to the StoryCorps Archive, housed at the Library of Congress and can be heard on NPR’s Morning Edition. To listen to excerpts from interviews at the festival webpage: http://maynardpubliclibrary.org/mbf2017.At 10:30 a.m., the festival will continue with children’s author and illustrator Matt Tavares. Tavares’s books have won a variety of awards including the Orbis Pictus Award, the Parents’ Choice Gold Award, and the Massachusetts Book Award. In addition, “Growing Up Pedro” was named a 2016 ALA Notable Book. He has written biographies of baseball stars Ted Williams, Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth. As an illustrator, he’s created depictions of historical figures including John F. Kennedy, Helen Keller and the Statue of Liberty. Most recently, “Crossing Niagara” and “Lighter than Air” tell the stories of adventurers. Tavares’s presentations explore the entire process of book creation — writing, revising, researching and sketching. He creates children’s books, but this presentation will be of interest to adults as well.Author events will continue at 1:30 p.m. with a panel discussion, “The Story Behind the Story.” The panel will feature three authors who write for young adults and whose books also hold appeal for adults. Panelists will include Maynard’s Julie Berry, whose most recent book won the Printz Honor in 2016; Tara Sullivan, author of two critically-acclaimed books; and M.T. Anderson, winner of the National Book Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Award, the Globe-Horn Book award and the Printz Honor. The authors cover a range of topics and settings— Arthurian legend (“Yvain: The Knight of the Lion,”) post-Inquisition France (“The Passion of Dolssa,”) the siege of Leningrad (“Symphony for the City of the Dead”) and child slavery in the African chocolate industry (“The Bitter Side of Sweet”). The panel will be moderated by Cathryn Mercier, director of the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at Simmons College.At 3:30 p.m., the festival will conclude with a presentation by author Kate Braestrup, “The Power of Stories in Trying Times.” Braestrup wrote her first memoir, “Here If You Need Me,” about her path through grief to find her mission. Two more memoirs followed with “Marriage, and Other Acts of Charity” and “Anchor and Flares.” In addition to being an author, Braestrup is an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister and chaplain to the Maine Game Warden Service. She tells stories about family, motherhood, commitment and living a life of service with grace and humor.Each author event will be followed by a book signing. Books by all the authors will be available for sale all day, courtesy of Porter Square Books. Refreshments will be served. For information, schedule and registration: http://maynardpubliclibrary.org/mbf2017.